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Even more Marine Aggregate Dredging!

Despite the numerous protests made by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, the Parish Councils, MP Brandon Lewis, MARINET and the many individuals who responded opposing the application MLA/2013/00417 that was placed on Friday 1st. November 2013, seeking a licence to permit Volker Dredging to remove a further 22,500,000 tonnes of aggregate over the next 15 years from the seabed 12 Km offshore to Great Yarmouth, it has just been given full approval by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO)

This was the fourth and final application last year 2013, the previous being MLA/2013/00119, MLA/201300306 and MLA/201300338, each intending to take similar amounts from our immediate offshore seabed.

With the fully evidenced damage created along our coastline following the December storm, when the dredged pits were disturbed and recaptured so much sand off our beaches exporting it to the void(s) created by the dredging, we hoped that the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) would be aware and take heed and due notice this time so to refuse these proposals. Sadly, despite level of opposition and the overwhelming scientific evidence conclusively proving the erosive impact of such (mal)practice, they will be going full steam ahead. But this was to be expected. They have yet to refuse a dredging application.

And if this isn’t enough, a further dredging application MLA/2014/0041 appeared in the Eastern Daily Press Public Notices on Monday 1st May seeking to dredge 33,750,000 metric tonnes of aggregate from the Humber region over the next 15 years, this from Area 515 (37 Km off the off the Humber, situated offshore to Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire and Cromer in Norfolk)

Although this area is not directly offshore to the Winterton to Lowestoft coastline and so will not further deepen the seabed here, it will have an impact on the sediment flow needed beach replacement that comes across The Wash from our north. But it will have a greater erosive impact from Humberside and down the Lincolnshire to North Norfolk shoreline.